Other Programs

MOTA

AAHI, in collaboration with Holy
Cross Hospital, Latino Health Initiative and African American Health
Program received MOTA funds for the Minority Communities Empowerment
Project. The MCEP is designed to build
capacity in the racial and ethnic communities through the empowerment
and education that will impact cancer and tobacco healthcare decisions.
It also raises awareness among the key stakeholders about the gaps in
healthcare and increase participation in
Cancer/Tobacco Coalitions and Town Meetings.

The goals of the MCEP are:

Enhance the technical skills of racial and ethnic minority health
promoters to conduct cancer education and prevention in their communities;

Enhance the organizational capacity of racial and ethnic minority
Community-Based-Organizations (CBOs) in education and outreach efforts;
and

Increase the participation of racial and ethnic minorities in health
planning and decision-making bodies.

Diabetes Awareness

It has been found that nearly 6.2 million Americans with diabetes
are not aware that they are diabetic.

Source: American
Diabetes Association

Diabetes is the fifth leading cause of death in Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders between the ages of 45 and 64 years of age. It appears
that modern times and migration to the U.S. change the food choices that
Asian Americans make from traditional plant and fish based diets to processed
foods and animal fats. A high fat diet coupled with a less active lifestyle
increases the likelihood for developing type 2diabetes. Thusly, there
is mounting evidence that diabetes is a major concern for Asian Americans
and Pacific Islander Americans.

Mission:

To provide diabetes prevention information to the Asian American community,
reduce the number of Asian Americans with risk factors for diabetes,
and raise awareness about the growing risk of type 2 diabetes in the
Asian American population

The goals of diabetes awareness are:

To increase diabetes awareness in the adult Asian American population
through culturally and linguistically appropriate services

To obtain data on the prevalence of risk factors for diabetes in
the Asian American population

To educate the Asian American community about pre-diabetes and
diabetes prevention

People of South Asian origin are 4-5 times more likely to develop
type 2diabetes than Caucasians.

The increasing incidence of type 2 diabetes within South Asians is
strongly associated with increasing central obesity and hyperinsulinemia;
South Asians also appear to be more insulin resistant, even at an earlier
age, in comparison to Caucasians.

Recent studies have correlated lower thresholds of waist circumference
(i.e. central obesity) with an increased risk of glucose intolerance
in South Asians compared to Caucasians

Source: Diabetes in South Asians, American Association of Physicians
of Indian Origin, 2002.

Links

Tobacco Control

According to the American Lung Association, there are close to 342,000 Americans die of lung disease every year. Lung disease is America's number three killer, responsible for one in seven deaths. Lung disease is not only a killer, most lung disease is chronic. More than 35 million Americans are now living with chronic disease. There are significant variations in smoking rates among Asian Americans. Southeast Asians (e.g., Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian) and Chinese men tend to have much higher rates of smoking than other Asian Americans. In fact, in 2004, 11.2 percent Asian American high school and 2.2 Asian American middle school students were reported to smoking cigarettes. These high smoking statistics can be partially attributed to tobacco companies developing specific promotion strategies to target the Asian population. Asian smokers are a key market since smoking prevalence in most Asian countries is considerably higher than in the US.

Future Programs

Mental Health

Mental health problems in the Asian American community
are disturbingly high, yet its services are inadequate. For example,
Asian women aged 65 years and over have the highest suicide rate in the
country compared with any other population in that age group. Also,
Asian American adolescent girls are reported to have the highest rates
of depressive symptoms compared to other ethnic girls. In addition,
many Southeast Asian refugees are at risk of Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) associated with trauma experienced before and after
immigration to the United States. Unfortunately, in conjunction
with the usual cultural and economic barriers to health care, there is
a strong stigma associated with mental health, which inhibit many Asian
Americans from accessing appropriate services.